NCAA CHAMPIONS
The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - Monday, April 1, 1996 - 7B
Morrison strikes
for Blue again
By John Leroi
Daily Sports Editor
CINCINNATI - All season long,
Brendan Morrison said he would take
the national title over the Hobey Baker
Award.
Wish granted.
But he never thought he would attain
the same amount
ofindividual glory
thathe didbyscor-
ing the game-win-
ner in overtime, to{
give Michigan a3-
2 victory over
Colorado College
andthe champion-
ship.
"He was the one
who should haveM
scored that goal," Morrison
Michigan coach Red Berenson said.
"When I finally got to talk to him, I just
said, 'What took you so long?"'
In actuality, the NCAA tournament's
Most Outstanding Player banged home
the winning rebound of Bill Muckalt's
shot just three minutes and 35 seconds
into overtime.
Afterwards, Tiger goaltender Ryan
Bach lay motionless, face pressed to the
ice, while referee Frank Cole hovered
over him, his left arm extended toward
the net.
Morrison danced behind the net be-
fore slipping, and was finally mobbed
by a throng of gold jerseys in the corner.
"I just had an open net and I put it in,"
Morrison said. "It was an easy shot, I
just wanted to make sure I put it in."
The junior from Pitt Meadows, Brit-
ish Columbia, had his chance to hoist
the championship trophy, which he said
is a much better feeling than holding the
Hobey.
"For this team to win is 100 times
better than winning that award,"
Morrison said. "This is a team game."
So, about 24 hours before he wrapped
up the Wolverines' first national chain-
pionship since 1964, Morrison didn't
even care to be in the Hyatt hotel when
Minnesota senior Brian Bonin was
named the winner of the 16th annual
Hobey Baker.
Morrison knew he hadn't won it. If
he had, his coach would have told him,
and he would have been summoned to
the Hyatt days earlier.
Instead, Morrison was more com-
fortable across the street in his hotel
room, with his teammates. Who needs
all of the added distractions?
"It's nice to be recognized for indi-
vidual awards once in a while,"
Morrison said. "But winning this is
bigger and scoring that goal, wow, I
didn't care who got it. But let me tell
you, it feels great."
Morrison ended the season with 72
points, four short of last year's total that
led the nation. But injuries kept him
from playing in all of the Wolverines'
games this season.
He missed six at the beginning of the
season and two more in January, but
still managed to lead his team and the
league in overall scoring, and was named
CCHA Player of the Week four times.
Morrison will likely be the preseason
favorite to win the Hobey next year ifhe
returns for his senior year at Michigan,
and he says he will be. After being
named a Hobey finalist for two years,
Morrison has paid his dues.
Barring a serious injury or an unex-
pected jump to the NHL, Morrison has
a good chance of holding the Hobey
next March.
But he'll tell you he'd trade it in a
minute for another championship ring.
"Oh man, winning a second title
would be fabulous," Morrison said. "I
can't imagine it. But winning the Hobey
next year is the last thing I'm thinking
about."
He is the best player on the nation's
best team. And he scored the title-win-
ning goal. Morrison has some celebrat-
ing to do.
How Michigan scored
1-,Orendan Morrison dug out the
puck along the right boards and
centered a pass to a breaking Bill
Muckalt, who was left unmarked in
the slot and fired the puck between
Ryan Bach's legs (1st period, 11:33).
2 - Harold Schock (above) sent a
*pass from the left side of the
blueline to Steven Halko on the right
side. Halko skated around a
defenseman and sent a shot on net.
Mike Legg picked up his rebound on
Bach's right and flipped the puck
over Bach's stick (3rd period, 6:54).
3-- Greg Crozier hit a wide open
Muckalt with a crisp pass near the
bottom of the left faceoff circle.
Bach turned aside Muckalt's
tbsiapper, but the rebound came loose
to the far post where Morrison was
in perfect position to hammer in the
game-winner (overtime, 3:35).
Michigan netminder Marty Turco stopped 38 of 40 shots this weekend against Boston University and Colorado College.
Gophers' Bonin takes h
By Danielle Rumore
Daily Sports Writer
CINCINNATI - It's what the
Heisman Trophy is to college football
and what the Wooden Award is to college
basketball.
It's the award for years of hard work
and determination.
It's the Hobey Baker Award, presented
annually by the Decathlon Athletic Club
of Bloomington, Minn. to the nation's
most outstanding college hockey player.
Friday, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel,
Minnesota's Brian Bonin becamethe 16th
recipient of the most prestigious indi-
vidual hockey award.
"This is quite shocking to hear the
news," Bonin said at the reception. "Ev-
ery (finalist) was worthy of winning this
award. I am not accepting this individu-
ally, but on behalf of all my teammates."
The senior forward led the nation in
regular-season scoring, finishing with 34
goals and 47 assists. He was named a
first-team All American for the second
consecutive season.
Bonin led his squad to a second-place
regular -season finish in the WCHA be-
hind the NCAA runner-up Colorado Col-
lege, before the Gophers captured the
conference tournament with a 7-2 victory
over Michigan Tech. The Gophers ad-
vancedto the regional finals oftheNCAA
tournament before falling to the eventual
champions, Michigan, 4-3.
Bonin became the third Gopher to win
the Hobey Baker,
propelling Minne-
sota into a tie with
Harvard and Min-
nesota-Duluth as
the winningest
schools in the his-
tory of the award.
In 1981,
Minnesota's Neil
Broten became the
first Hobey Baker
Bonin winner. In 1988,
Robb Stauber became the first goaltender
and the second Gopher to win.
Boston University's Jay Pandolfo was
this year's runner-up. The senior forward
had 38 goals and 29 assists in 40 games,
excluding the NCAA semifinals. He led
the Terriers to the conference tournament
semifinal, where they fell 5-4 to Provi-
dence. The Terriers lost to Michigan in
the NCAA semifinal game, 4-0.
Michigan's Brendan Morrison was one
of the 10 finalists but did not finish in the
top two in the balloting. Including the
NCAA semifinal and final, he had 28
goals and44assists, despite missing eight
Left: A dejected
Colin Schmidt (9)
and Jason
Gudmundson
(8) watch in
disappointment
with their
Colorado College
teammates as
Michigan
celebrates its 3-2
*0] victory, in the
NCAA final. The
x & Tigers were
playing in their
first title game
since defeating
Michigan, 13-6, in
1957.
} Right: Colorado
College forward
Brian Swanson
slow down
Michigan's Chris
Frescoln, but
defenseman
Calvin Elfring was
able to stop his
drive with a poke
check.
Photos by
WALKER VANDYKE/Daily
3 Wolverines make -tournament team
me Hobey
games with a knee and a wrist injury. He
led the CCHA in overall scoring and was
named CCHA player of the year.
Morrison was also one of the finalists
last season when he was just a sopho?
more, but failed to win the award, despite
leading the nation in total points with 76
and total assists with 53 and being named
CCHA player of the year.
"He was overlooked last year for (the
Hobey)," Michigan coach Red Berensoq
said. "This year, it was because of the
injuries. But he fought through thosewh(A
I knew he wasn't 100 percent. He is one
of the true leaders on the team."
Defenseman Keith Aldridge of Lak#
Superior joined Morrison as the onl$
other finalist from the CCHA. Aldridgl
led the Lakers to a first-place regular
season finish and a second-place fini
in the conference tournament. He haj
13 goals and 33 assists in 34 games -,
The idea for the H obey Baker Awair
was conceived in 1978 by then-Decatur
lon Athletic CEO Chuck Bard. Thy
award trophy was named after Hobe
Baker, a hockey and football letterma
at Princeton University from 1910-19 14
who passed away in an airplane crash inl
1918.
Since then, the committee and spoit
sorship, not tomention the tradition, havo
grown substantially. The U.S. Army ania
Army Reserve is now recognized as. a
presenter of the award, as a way to hongr
Baker's success as a student-athlete ano
as an Army pilot during World War I.
"This thing has grown and is a special
occasion," Minnesota coach Doug Woof
said. "As college coaches, we thank t.
Decathlon Club and the Army for letting
it grow."
Coaches from 44 Division I schools
vote for the top three players in theik
league and in the nation.
From there, the results are tabulated
and the list of the top 10 finalists ,
submitted tothe selection committee. The
committee, consisting of media mem
bers, NHL scouts and college hock
coaches, which includes Berenson, s
lects the winner.
"It is just a great honor to take part ini?'
Master of Ceremonies Jim Rich said. ".ft
has a great reputation, and you just kno
how much it means to these stude.
athletes."
I
;< ,'
4
Ay Alan Goldenbach
Daily Sports Writer
CINCINNATI - In case you
watchedtheNCAA championship game
from under a rock, Brendan Morrison
was named the tournament's most out-
standing player.
Joining him on the all-tournament
team were teammates Steven Halko and
arty. Turco, as well as defenseman
Scott Swanson and forward Peter
.Geronazzo of Colorado College and
forward Martin St. Louis of Vermont.
WINNING AT SPECIAL TEAMS: A key to
both of Michigan's wins this weekend
was the its ability to shutdown the
opposition's power play.
When up a man this season, Colo-
Iado College scored over one-third of
the time - tops in the nation, while
Boston University had the second-best
rate, at just over 31 percent.
The Wolverines held the Terriers
scoreless in four opportunities Thurs-
day night, and they shut down the Ti-
hIP11cwel - onel gal in~ five charnces
penalty killing unit in the nation at 86
percent.
FLAMES DOUSED: Illinois-Chicago has
decided to drop its men's hockey pro-
gram effective immediately, reducing the
number ofteams in the CCHA back to 10.
Reports out of Chicago say that the
Flames incoming basketball coach Jim
Collins had demanded more money for
the basketball program as a condition
for taking the position at UIC.
"I do not believe the hiring of UIC's
new basketball coach last Tuesday, and
the discontinuance of the hockey pro-
gram are a coincidence," CCHA com-
missioner Bill Beagan said.
The interesting aspect of this for other
teams is that all of the former Flames
can transfer to other schools without
having to sit out a year.
There are speculations that another
team will be asked to join the CCHA,
perhaps Northern Michigan or Michi-
gan Tech, which both left the confer-
ence after the 1984 season. That topic,
as 'well as the legality of Illinois-
Chicago's decision - the CCHA Ar-
ticles of Agreement state that members
must give the conference a one-year
notice of plans to leave the conference
- will be discussed at the CCHA's
annual meeting next month.
Pursing a careew ln Athleticto?
Gain valuable experience by joining Team Blue
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